A conventional heddle used in weaving on a loom typically has a central hole of some form located at the midpoint of the heddle. The warp thread is passed through the hole and is wound on spools at both ends of the loom. One problem with a conventional heddle is that once the thread is passed through the hole and weaving has begun, the thread cannot be removed in any easy manner to change the design of the weave. Some prior heddle designs provide means for "self threading", in other words, introducing the warp threads onto the heddle without cutting the warp threads. Some of these self threading heddles require the individual warp be raised or lowered above or below the level of the sheet of warps in order to be threaded or unthreaded onto or off of the heddle. In order to raise or lower the warp, the loom tension must be relaxed to provide several inches of slack. Besides the time it takes to loosen and readjust the loom tension, when the warps are slack they are no longer held side by side in an orderly position. This causes confusion in the process of rethreading the warp threads in a new arrangement and provides a greater chance of the warp threads becoming entangled in each other.
Also, none of the self-threading heddles that can both lift and depress the warps are in any way detachable from the heddle frames once the loom is threaded and the weaving begun.
Other self threading heddles permit the warp to be threaded or unthreaded at the level of the sheet of warps, but none of these allow both the lifting and depressing of the warp threads.
The curling eye heddle of the present invention overcomes these problems by using a curling eye as the central hole from which the warp thread may be threaded or unthreaded at the level of the sheet of warps and which permits the individual warps to be lifted or depressed above or below the sheet of warps.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a heddle with a curling eye for threading and unthreading the warp thread at the level of the sheet of warps onto and off of the heddle.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a heddle that can lift or depress individual warps above or below the sheet of warps, respectively.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a heddle which can be easily removed from the lower heddle frame.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a heddle which is economical to manufacture, durable in use, and efficient in operation.